BMJ  2007;334 (30 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.39259.443646.47

Editor's Choice

Editor's choice

FAFfing about

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Somewhere, I imagine, there's a small group of people proud to be counted among the Friends of Avian Flu, or FAF for short. I suspect they have a catchy mission statement, such as "Keeping the nightmare alive," and lapel badges of vaguely bird-like shape.

Their challenge is to keep bird flu forever in the public eye. This should be getting harder, as influenza H5N1 is proving particularly resistant to undergoing the killer mutation that would allow efficient human to human transmission of the virus. Ten years after the strain first appeared in humans, it has killed just 191 people. This is despite the most propitious of circumstances: millions of people and poultry living in very close proximity in South East Asia. Although these deaths are a tragedy for the victims and their families, it's as well to remember that a similar number of people die on the roads world wide . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

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Rapid Responses:

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Is your guess like mine?

Hilary Butler
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FAFfing about: BFF on bird flu

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Sir, do you have information that no one else has?

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Hope is not a plan. A plan is not preparedness.

Joel H. Jensen
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Questions to Greg Dworkin.

Hilary Butler
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False assumptions about the speed and limits of evolving viruses

V. Switzer
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Re Hilary Butler's questions

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Pandemic Insurance

Peter Dunnill
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correction

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Re: False assumptions about the speed and limits of evolving viruses

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On the nature of concerned peoples

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Has the BMJ Gone a Bit Too Far?

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Evaluating Pandemic Risk

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Promotional healthscares

John Stone
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re John Stone's comment

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Re: Promotional healthscares

Susan Chu
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Re: Promotional healthscares

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Re: Re: Promotional healthscares

John Stone
bmj.com, 9 Jul 2007 [Full text]

Re vaccines, predictions, etc

Greg Dworkin, MD
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Re: Re vaccines, predictions, etc

John Stone
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The State of FAF (Fear of Avian Flu)

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